Mel tipped her head. She knew Brianna, only in passing, but she knew her. She’d always thought she was a nice hardworking baker, even though her cake had always seemed a bit dry.
“What happened to Brianna?” she asked. “Why did she have to cancel?”
“She didn’t cancel,” Elise said. “You didn’t hear? I thought for sure it would have been murmured through the bakery network. Brianna was found dead in her kitchen. Apparently, there was a gas leak from her oven. Can you imagine?”
“No,” Mel said. She felt queasy. “I can’t.”
“Elise, can I have just one more picture?” A photographer stepped in front of the next person in line and held his camera up.
Mel glanced at Angie to see if this was making her think of Blaise. Judging by the sad look on her face, it was.
“I’m telling you,” Cassie said, “I am so relieved by the turnout tonight. Everything was going to heck in a handbasket this week and I was sure we were doomed. But thanks to you and James”—she paused to point to the photographer—“we managed to pull it out.”
Mel felt her heart thump hard in her chest. What were the odds? She had to ask.
“Is James filling in for someone?” she asked.
“Yes, we originally had Blaise Ione booked to take the event photos. He and Elise go way back,” Cassie said. “He took her author pictures and the cover photo on the book, you know.”
“I didn’t.” Mel’s voice was breathy, and not in a good way, but rather in the way that happens right before a fainting spell.
Mel reached out and grabbed Cassie’s arm to steady herself. This was too weird to be a coincidence. Way too weird. She turned to see if Angie had heard, but Angie was watching Elise talk to the next woman in line.
“Hello, dear, would you like the book personalized or just a signature?” Elise asked.
The woman in line grinned at Elise and said, “Oh, Elise, it’s so good to see you. You can just sign it to me.”
Elise tipped her head to the side. It was clear she had absolutely no idea who the woman was. She didn’t even try to pretend.
“And your name would be?” she asked, with her pen poised over the page.
The woman, tiny and fragile-looking, with her slight build and glasses that looked too heavy for her face, stared at Elise with such a look of hurt that Mel felt sorry for her. Clearly, meeting Elise meant much more to the woman than it did to Elise.
“I’m Janie Fulton,” she said. “I lived three houses down from you on Crestwood Drive for twenty years.”
Elise gaped at her. Mel got the feeling she still didn’t know who Janie was, but she decided to bluff.
“Janie, darling, it’s so good to see you,” Elise cried. “You look really . . . well.”
“Thank you,” Janie gushed. “I’ve been keeping an eye on everyone for you, and I know everything that’s happening in the neighborhood, so I can help with the next book.”
“Aren’t you a dear?” Elise asked. She looked a bit stiff. “But this book has only just come out, and I have to get through this publicity tour first and then, of course, they’re already talking movie.”
“Of course. I know you’re so busy,” Janie said. “But maybe we could get together for old times’ sake sometime.”
Elise finished writing in the book and closed it, handing it to Janie. “Sure, doll, thanks for coming.”
It was a stone-cold dismissal as Elise looked past Janie at the next person in line. Janie’s shoulders slumped. She opened the book and glanced at the personalization. Mel wouldn’t have thought it possible, but Janie looked even more defeated.
“She spelled my name wrong,” Janie said to Cassie, who was standing beside Elise. “She wrote a y instead of an ie.”
“Oh, no,” Cassie said. “I’m sure she’d be happy to make it right.”
She gestured for Janie to wait, when Elise erupted out of her seat and snapped, “You!”
Seeing the look that was directed at the woman behind her, Janie yelped and moved out of Elise’s line of sight lest she be turned to stone.
“Me,” the woman behind Janie returned. She put one hand on her hip and tossed her perfectly highlighted hair.
Elise and the woman commenced their stare-down and the entire room stood frozen, watching. Were they about to rip each other’s hair out or exchange nasty insults? Mel did a quick scan to see if there were any sharp implements in the vicinity besides Elise’s pen. Nope, they were good.
“Eeee!” the two women squealed at the same time, and then Elise was leaning over the table to hug the other woman close.
Mel sagged in relief and she noted that Cassie and Angie did the same.
“I can’t believe you’re here, Shanna!”
“Only for you, dearest,” Shanna returned. “Now sign my book to me, and make it naughty.”
Elise bit the end of her pen and resumed her seat. She signed the book, talking all the while. “We simply have to get together while I have time. What are you doing after this?”
“Actually, I have plans,” Shanna said. “My whole life has been in utter turmoil.”
“Really?” Elise asked. “Why?”
“Because, darling, after my husband read about my torrid affair in an advance copy of your wicked little book, I couldn’t hide it anymore, now could I?”
Elise glanced up at her with a look of shock. Her face, which just moments before had a healthy rose glow, drained of color, leaving her sickly looking.
“But I never meant—”
“Sure you did,” Shanna said. “Admit it. You wanted to ruin me so you weren’t alone in your misery. Well, you caused Carl to throw me out, so well done.”
Seven
If looks could kill, Elise would be bleeding
